Potential applicants and their authorized representatives can present and discuss their land development proposals with relevant municipality staff and external agencies during a pre-consultation process in planning permits. The pre-consultation process allows the municipal planning department to learn more about applicants' plans while clarifying the applicant's application process. The pre-consultation period typically lasts 60 to 70 days.
What is the purpose of the pre-consultation meeting with your municipal building and planning authorities?
Meetings between applicants and municipal building and planning authorities are common during pre-consultation. Authorities and other stakeholders can provide preliminary comments on your development proposal and identify critical issues during the pre-consultation meeting. The supporting information, development plans, and studies submitted with the pre-consultation request can be confirmed by the parties. As a result, the process will result in faster application approvals with fewer modifications.
How do I know in Cloudpermit if I need a pre-consultation for my application?
When you apply for planning permission in Cloudpermit, the service is integrated into the data of your local government. Depending on the category of your application, your municipal planning authorities may have determined that some specific approval applications must go through the pre-consultation phase before applying for approval.
If the approval application requires pre-consultation, you will be notified when you select the project category for the application during the application creation process. Cloudpermit takes you to the pre-consultation workspace and walks you through filling out the pre-consultation data and uploading the required attachments. You will only submit a valid and correct application to your municipality this way.
How do I create a pre-consultation request in Cloudpermit?
If your planning approval application states that you must undergo the pre-consultation process, Cloudpermit automatically redirects you to the pre-consultation request workspace.
The pre-consultation is a step-by-step request in Cloudpermit, allowing you to add project data, upload attachments, invite parties to the application, and submit your request to your municipality.
Focus on essentials in your pre-consultation request. If your pre-consultation request includes a project data form to be filled out in the "Project Data" section of the workspace, describe the content of your proposal in a straightforward format. Upload, for example, draft plans, building drawings, and site plans in the "Attachments" section of your request to support your planning proposal.
You can provide more information about your plans during the pre-consultation process and in the meetings. You can also ask questions of your municipal building and planning authorities through Cloudpermit's in-built Messages tool, accessible from your request's workspace.
How do I know the pre-consultation is over?
When the pre-consultation process is complete, the planning authority marks the pre-consultation request step as "completed." The municipal authority prepares a draft planning approval application in Cloudpermit's "application" tab next to the pre-consultation workspace tab. The completion and outcome of the pre-consultation will be communicated to all parties involved in the request via email that includes a link to the pre-consultation workspace. 
The final results published by the municipal authority are included in the pre-consultation workspace. The planning authority will also begin a draft application that will appear in the "application" tab next to the pre-consultation workspace.
What happens after the pre-consultation phase?
Your request for a pre-consultation is now complete. The necessary meetings have taken place. Your municipal planning authority has provided you with a pre-consultation result and a draft approval application to move your planning approval process forward.
The draft approval application can be found in the "application" tab next to the pre-consultation workspace. The "Required Tasks" progress bar displays your required actions in the application workspace before submitting your approval application.
After providing the required application data, you can proceed to the application sign-off to digitally sign off on your approval and submit it to your municipal planning authorities.
After the sign-off, the municipal authority will perform an initial check on your approval application. After deeming the approval complete, the authority reviews it.
Learn more about how to request a pre-consultation for the planning approval here.